Read the article DNA has Come a Long Way from Genetic Engineering and Biotech News (11/2012) and checkout the DNA Interactive site. Then discuss future ramifications from a philosophical perspective.
Due November 30, 2012.
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It would be as though the movie GATTACA had gone from science fiction to reality.
I see a world where we all look the same, we have different eye, hair and skin color, but for the most part we don’t bare many differences. Uniqueness is taboo and considered a trait for the “unfit”. Everyone is highly intelligent and every task we complete it is done to perfection. Nothing is less than perfect. We are born knowing that we will be successful and achieve greatness. We know this because it will be the only reason we are born.
No one is funny or appears to even be relaxed. Children don’t play in the mud or dance in the rain. No more fictional stories or urban legends. No more people with two colored eyes or freckles. No one snorts when they laugh really hard. Everyone is exactly the same.
Love, what is love? Marriages are arraigned according to the couple’s genetic composition. The DNA is combined in a lab and your baby is grown in an artificial womb. This way they could assure that the fetus was given proper prenatal care, they believe it decreases the chances the baby will develop into an “unfit” child.
Prejudice is now aimed at those that are less than perfect, those that have average to low IQ scores, or unmanageable hair, the ones who can’t read as fast, or have birthmarks on their face. These people have no chance; they are destined for poverty and disease. They drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes but it’s not their fault, it’s in their genes. The women who are unfit are sterilized in order to prevent them from reproducing. There genes are considered a poison to society; like a plague that must be prevented.
A world where we decide who we are, what we look like, and what we will be may be meant for some but not for me. There may be no more heart disease or Alzheimer’s, but it seems that anything that makes us a society and everything that makes us an individual would be gone. I like the contrast and veracity of society, it makes us who we are; it makes us colorful.
I think that the idea of altering genes through gene therapy could be great for the medical field and the treatment of many diseases and disorders. I do not necessarily agree with it though. Trying to modify human genes to treat disease is one thing, altering them to our own specifications is another. I agree with Athena that if taken too far, this could result in a Gattaca-like world. Another problem with trying to cure all of these genetic disorders is that the side effects from gene therapy often make the patient worse. Cancer is a common result from gene therapy. Altering human DNA is very risky and is a very controversial topic. It is also extremely expensive. People are not supposed to live forever, and there are certain things that should be left alone. This may be one of them because it could be taken to extreme levels.
The part of the assignment was to discuss the future ramifications from philosophical perspective. One complication that can occur by not being well educated about DNA is that people won’t understand how they are created physically and chemically. DNA is what makes us who we are. Every part of our body is coded in our DNA strands. People also wouldn’t understand why certain dieses happen to one another. Some of those diseases could be sickle cell anemia, Huntington disease, hemophilia, Marfan syndrome, and many more. All these diseases have one thing in common that is related to DNA, which is that they can be inherited. People also wouldn’t understand why they resemble their parents, and they wouldn’t understand how people turn out to be a boy or a girl. Also without the knowledge of DNA mothers wouldn’t be able to find biological fathers. DNA is also very unique because every single person has different genes. In my microbiology class Dr. Awad states the genes are like files, they carry so much information about an individual.
This is why DNA is so important, and because DNA is so important I feel like now and later in the future DNA can be taken advantage of. It can be taken advantage of because since it has been advancing in the years; people will be determined to make more and more designer babies. First of all a designer baby could save someone’s life. In my perspective I would love to live forever, but no one is meant to live forever so why change nature or destiny. One perfect example would be in the book that I’m reading for my argumentation paper. It called “My Sisters Keeper.” In this book, the girl had cancer. The doctor told the parents that the daughter can manage to live a couple more years if she had a donor. This donor would have to be an exact match that would be able to donate bone marrow, Granulocytes, and many other things. Therefore, the parents made a designer baby that had the same DNA characteristics as the cancer patient, not physical appearances. This not only caused a lot of problems in the family, but a lot of mental and physical distress to the donor. She was only created to save her sisters life, and not because her parents wanted her.
On the other hand, many couples have the opportunity to make designer babies for physical appearances. In my view, I would love to be able to make my child look the way like I wanted it to. I would be awesome to pick a baby with blue eyes, dark hair, slim, and for him to be tall when he grew up. It honestly would be my perfect baby. However, it’s not up to me to decide how my baby is going to look. Honestly, I don’t know whose job it is to determine that. All I know is that babies are created, weather God creates them, some supernatural being, or even a super hero. In reality no one really knows, therefore, the physical appearance of babies need to be left alone. If not everyone would be the same, there would be no uniqueness in the world because a lot of people share the same ideals of being “PERFECT.”
Stephanie Galaviz
If somehow scientist were capable of alterating the DNA of an individual, I believe it shouldn't be used. I realize that being able, and having that kind of technology would be such an accomplishment. But at the same time in my personal opinion I believe alternating the way God created man would be the start of something bad. Like I said though, what a discovery and ability that man could do so much. But I believe somethings are best kept unknown and left alone. If everyone is modified to be the perfect person then everyone would be the same. No uniqueness. As for Cancer however, if you scientist were able to find a way to cure it, then of course use that technology. But I just feel using it to modify or perfect a human being would be using the technology for the wrong reasons.
I also feel its wrong to find how long someone will live by searching their DNA. The Genome is "the book of life" and if they could discover someones future health and try to stop future diseases or illnesses i believe thats still going to far. The body was created to adapt and fight sicknesses and fight diseases. Yes, some do kill people and is it worth that persons life to not undergo with the DNA alteration, I can't say. I believe everyone has the right to live but if it is their tine to go who are we to stop it.
This is a very touchy subject, and to say what is right or wrong is very tough! I don't agree with it in most cases but there are a few where that technology might really help and come in handy.
Evan McFarland
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I am a firm believer that if Scientist can alter genetic code or atleast find out what is causing certain genetical illness and put a stop to it I believe that by all means they should do whatever they can to help out.
Although, privacy and confidentiality of a certain individual is important one must realize and weigh the risk and benefits this can bring to our future generation. Imagine those with ALS or MS or DOWN SYNDROME if they can find a way to alter it, and put an end to it by replacing it with its perfect match in the sequence of DNA then we wont see individuals suffering from these kinds of illnes.
Like Surgeons, they take out what is affected or bad in a patients body it goes the same way if scientist can do this then it benefits not only the involved individuals but the rest of us.
ARLLY GARCIA
I don’t really think that there is a right or wrong answer here. I have been reading and listening to a lot of material by Ken Wilber and Alan Watts, and the material by Watts I find to be particularly interesting. He says that there is no separation between ourselves and the space around us, and that without the space around us, we would be completely without form. It is a game that we play of black and white, and we want white to win. However, without black (death), white (life) is utterly meaningless. So in exactly the same way, we cannot truly separate right and wrong with genetic engineering because it is part of the same thing. I think that there is a certain nobility in dying, because it makes room for future generations. If we all lived forever, then the world would be like an unpruned tree; it would become cluttered.
I think that in regards to genetic engineering, there is much to be learned and much to be gained. The potential gain to be had here is near limitless, being limited only by our own development. In Back to the future, when Marty goes to the future, it was July of 2012. Yet I am still waiting for my very own hoverboard. In the same way, I think that the potential in genetic engineering is astronomical, but we will fall short of that expectation. This is not to say that there will not be gains. We are already utilizing gentic testing in utero including the amniocentesis to diagnose down syndrome, and gene therapy for many ailments including HIV and cancer. However, we have only began to tinker with such things, and we bay very well open a door that we do not want to. It is only within the last 50 years that we have realized that smoking is bad for us, and we are now toying with things such as gene therapy without knowing whether or not we will grow a third arm our of our sides 40 years from now (not literally). In other words, our hunger for innovation and our own innate curiosity may lead us to causing something much worse than the things we are trying to fix today. A perfect (fictitious) example would be the recent prequel “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.” In this, a drug is developed that has generative properties that we hope to use to counter Alzheimer’s disease, and in the process we set into motion a series of events that destroys our modern world. Now of course this is fiction and is highly unlikely, but a more realistic scenario is that we are experimenting with gene therapy as a treatment for cancer, and as a result we could cause a massive increase in cancer for future generations without knowing it now. With the development of stronger antibiotics comes stronger bacteria. So in exactly the same way, if we begin tinkering with genetics, we may be unknowingly causing problems for the future. This is already being seen in the short term, as Kelsey said “Another problem with trying to cure genetic disorders is the side effects from gene therapy often make the patient worse.” On top of this, we don't have the slightest idea of what will happen in the long term. At this point, we are at the equivalent stage to just discovering that we can smoke tobacco and we think it is great, and will be completely unaware of the consequences. Tobacco smoking started as long as 3000-5000 B.C., so it only took us between five and seven thousand years to realize that it is killing us. So is gene therapy a good idea? I think it is worth examining, yes. Also, just a brief mention of genetic engineering and modification of our food and produce.. We have no idea of any corelation to consuming GMO's and disease any more than we had an understanding of tobacco smoke 5 thousand years ago. So it is for this very reason that we should continue to research our on genetics. I believe that such research WILL, with time, reveal the causes for much of the disease in the world. And if it does not allow us to eliminate it, hopefully it will at least allow us to find what is causing it and therefore provide us with a roadmap to guide future generations around the pitfalls that were previously unknown. Imagine if we knew smoking was bad for us 3 thousand years ago- where would we be today? In the same way, I think that there is much hope for the future of genetic research.
With all of that being said, I think that there IS potential for greatness in genetic research, but it is completely new and undiscovered, so we need to be careful. I'm glad that Athena mentioned “Gattaca” this is a concern that people have, and I think it is what people think about when “genetic engineering” or anything of the sort is talked about. But in the same way as we do not have hoverboards in 2012, I do not think this kind of world will ever be a reality. Considering the rate we are going, I think we will most likely likely die off before we get that far, be it from famine and exhausting earths resources, or disease, or economic collapse, but hopefully not. I think that our future will represent Gattaca in the same way that our world today represents 2012 from “Back to the Future;” there have been many advancements, but our reality falls far short of Hollywood's projected growth. I think that the medical implications are fantastic, and even the possibility of being able to identify behavioral genes would be amazing. Imagine no more Jared Laughners or Colombine-esque, Virginia tech events, no more violent behavior. The idea may seem nice and ideal, but I think that it is unnatural, and dangerous to toy with such things with as little as we know at this point. For now, “designer babies” should not be our concern, I feel that it is a waste of resources. If we are going to move forward in genetic research, our efforts should be focused on the things that cause a decrease in the quality of our lives, including genetic disorders and diseases. Function over form and aesthetics.
I don't believe that people should be given the option to create their baby's appearance. I think that a persons physical appearance helps to create the person that they become as an adult. I think that should be left to fate to determine and parents shouldn't get the option to pick what their baby should look like. I am a mother of two beautiful baby boys and I couldn't have picked more perfect features for them if I tried. I think it's disgusting that people are so vain and they want their kids to come out looking "perfect". However, I do see the benefits of genetic alterations to help to cure or prevent diseases from occurring. We don't know what the future ramifications of these alterations could lead to. Someone pointed out earlier that it could lead to cancer or other complications. You have to weigh risk vs. reward and decide if it is really worth it in the extended future. This whole procedure is such a slippery slope... and it could all go downhill very fast. How far can you push the envelope before you have gone too far?
Chelsea Holgate
Genetic engineering does offer both good and bad. Before I can get to that, first, it's a relatively a new field of science and medicine and it's still too early to tell whether the benefits outweigh the harms or the inverse. With that said, from a philosphical standpoint, I think it would be good to throw in more funds and make more resources available to scientists and doctors so that they can bring about the benefits of biomedicine whilst at the same time repressing its harms. Imagine being able to plant your kids, artificially of course; imagine a generation of people whose IQ is not below 150? Intelligence is just one trait of biology that can be implanted. Athleticism is another, healthy hearts, kidneys and other organs can also be tempered with in a good way to change the overall health of a person. The bad thing about this is that, as I mentioned already, it's new. There hasn't been a lot of tests done and gene alteration isn't an easy task. By trying to do good, doctors or scientists might end up making matters even worse. So the solution to this is more funding for this programs so that more tests can be done, so that more ways to fix mutated genes, missing or extra genes in a short time. Philosophy is all for questioning and finding new solutions to existing problems. Philosophy is about changing the old ways when it's no longer relevant. I think we're moving into a new age where technology will have a massive impact on our daily lives. I think these impacts are almost inevitable and I think they're good.
I know there is a lot we can do with DNA but to alter it in anyway is like playing god. Down Syndrome, MS what ever is out there there. These thing are meant to be here. Down Syndrome people are her to keep us nice treat people as humans and not as out cast for they way they are or the way they look. MS and cancers are here to teach us to join together fight as a team and family so we may save someone life. we should not mess with DNA. One day where going to mess to much and it will back fire on us and we will find something to kill us all instead of cure us all
Although Genetic Engineering is involved in many ethical issues, I believe that the benefits outweigh the bad. We now live in a society in which most of what we consume or use is manufactured, and sometimes we do not even notice, or think about it. Without this process we would not have access to most of the medicine that aid in controlling diseases such as, insulin for diabetics. Certain diseases like the Huntington's disease, ALS and cystic fibrosis is caused by defective genes. There is hope that a cure for such diseases can be found by either inserting the corrected gene or modifying the defective gene. Eventually, the hope is to completely eliminate genetic diseases and also treat non-genetic diseases with appropriate gene therapy. Genetic engineering is also a boon for pregnant women who can choose to have their fetuses screened for genetic defects. These screenings can help the parents and doctors prepare for the arrival of the child who may have special needs during or after the delivery. A possible future benefit of genetic engineering which is very eagerly awaited is that a fetus with a genetic defect could be treated with genetic therapy even before it is born. As much as people say that “diseases make us who we are as a society” they would not like to have a family member in that type of situation, and would try whatever possible to cure that disease. As much as people disagree with genetic engineering, it is one of the only ways to find cures to many of the disease that threaten us today.
Do I think genetic engineering is good or bad? I think that this is a debate that has been going on for several years. I believe it is important to make and informed decision on this before taking a side. Learning the possible pros and cons would be a good way of going about this. There are some pros of genetic engineering that are thought to be beneficial to medicine in the future. Those who have defective genes can get gene therapy to have their defective genes corrected to treat, and
possibly cure, genetic diseases. This is expected to result in the most common diseases being far less common, and the amount of diseases overall will be far less. Another possibility is that it will lead to a better suited environment for all living organisms.
However, with everything there are cons as well. One of the biggest concerns is that genetically engineered organisms will interbreed with natural organisms. This creates a concern of how they will affect the heath of our environment and humans because there is not enough evidence showing how they will affect natural organisms. In agriculture, a fear that widespread crop failure will occur if a virus, fungus, or pests develops and attacks a specific crop because all of the seeds of the crops will be of an indentical genetic structure.
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